We have just uploaded more than 30 new templates for your listings that are different from the templates we’ve created in the past. Until now, most of our templates had distinct themes; some are seasonal, others tie in with a category such as books, Cameras & Photos, children, and so forth. All graphical elements, fonts and colors work to achieve their seasonal or category “look.”
Auctiva has a big library of these listing templates, and sellers have been using them to help move mega-millions of gross merchandise value over the years. But recently some of our customers asked for a different type of templates—templates that look outstanding and professional, but focus buyers’ attention more on the product being sold and less on the category or seasonal theme that is so visible in our older template designs.
With this design concept in mind, our newest templates are theme and category neutral, very lean, very clean, crisp and streamlined. Our designers have selected light, unobtrusive graphical treatments, complementary fonts, and attractive but simple color schemes that will work well with products found in many different categories.
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If you created a listing using our tools this week, you may have noticed a few changes. And if you plan on creating new listings soon—especially if you’re one of our Supersize image users— you’re in for a treat.
The Big Picture
We’ve once again updated our software to help you stay in sync with eBay’s upcoming changes and provide you enhanced value. The big news of this release cycle is that we’ve made our already large Supersize images even bigger. In the past, these images were displayed at a maximum of 1,024 x 768 pixels. While this size gave users good, detailed shots of their items to show off their products in all their glory, we’ve made adjustments so your images can now be up to 1,280 x 1,024 pixels in size. Supersized images that were saved before this week’s update will still display at their current size, but you have the option to reload them at the larger size if our old Supersized size is not large enough.
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Recently, Google announced its “Google Fiber for Communities” project. With this initiative, Google will install a high-speed Internet network in selected cities. The goal is to observe, on a small scale, how high-speed Internet access will impact the world.
As a member in a citywide coalition, Auctiva is campaigning to have our Chico, CA, community chosen as a “sandbox” for Google’s experiment. If selected, Chico would have Internet speeds of one gigabit per second—more than 100 times faster than typical U.S. speeds. So Auctiva has taken up Google’s challenge: “Think big with a gig.”
If the world had lightning-fast Internet speed, what would Auctiva develop? Hmm… With this kind of speed, we could innovate revolutionary online experiences for buyers and sellers.
Imagine the rich experience of large-screen, online sales demonstrations. Say goodbye to low-resolution, brief videos that keep stalling due to annoying “buffering.” Similarly, merchants could offer a customer service “counter” to buyers in a face-to-face conversation, not just a faceless live chat or telephone call.
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Encarta’s definition of “rummage” is “to make a rapid search for or through something by carelessly moving and disarranging things or to find something by searching.”
I have to admit, I do my share of rummaging, although my version takes slightly longer and is more in depth. Whenever I’m in a department store, a thrift store or a garage sale, I cannot keep myself from digging through the clearance racks or rummaging through boxes of garage sale merchandise. Why? Because I’m always on the lookout for fantastic deals on things I think I can resell on eBay for a profit. It’s almost an illness. You likely know the feeling.
Even if I’m short on time, I frequently find myself drawn toward the backs of certain stores where the clearance merchandise is often hidden. The eBay seller in me says, “If I don’t at least take a quick peek at what’s been marked down 90 percent, I could be missing a huge opportunity to make some big bucks.”
When it comes to garage sales, I have a little more control. I don’t slam on my brakes and foam at the mouth whenever I spot a sign announcing, “Yard sale today!” OK, maybe a little drooling, but that’s to be expected, right? The approach I take is more methodical: I check the local paper and Craigslist ahead of time, and look for a few big sales that I think will have the most stuff to browse through. Then when I actually go to these sales, the seller in me takes over.
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Enter Auctiva’s Twitter contest for your chance to win six months of service on our Premium Plan, or Auctiva swag.
To participate, simply:
- follow us on Twitter
- have an active Auctiva account (this includes the Free Tools account)
- have at least five Twitter followers, and
- tweet any message that includes “#Auctiva,” such as, “I’ve been using #Auctiva tools for 3 years.”
Click here for official contest rules. Entries may be submitted up to once a day.
Auctiva’s Premium Plan gives customers access all of our listing tools, 1 GB of image hosting, premium customer support, an Auctiva Commerce Store and much more. We’ll also give out at least four first-place prizes every Monday beginning March 22 until the contest ends April 12. These winners will get their choice of Auctiva-branded swag, including hats, mugs, tanks, T-shirts and tote bags. On the last day of the contest, we’ll announce the grand-prize winner via Twitter. It could be you!
If you aren’t already following Auctiva on Twitter, now is the time to start. We regularly post links to helpful news and feature articles about selling online, marketing your business, useful seller tools and other topics to help you take your business to the next level, and now, we’re giving you the chance to win six months of free service!
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To enter Auctiva’s Twitter contest:
- Step 1: Follow Auctiva on Twitter
- Step 2: Tweet any message including “#Auctiva”
Example: “I’ve been using #Auctiva for 3 years!”
- Step 3: Re-enter the contest as many times as you wish, limiting your contest tweets to once a day
* Entrants must have an Auctiva account (this includes our Free Tools account), be active followers of Auctiva.com on Twitter and have a minimum of 5 followers to participate.
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A mock funeral was held last week to honor an old friend to many, Internet Explorer 6. First released back in 2001, the browser was once highly regarded, but today users are less than enthusiastic about it. Funeral organizers think the browser should be officially laid to rest, and many Web developers couldn’t agree more. After all, Internet users have several other options for surfing the Web, including two more recent versions of Internet Explorer (IE7 and IE8).
But why does it matter what browser you use when you go online? There are several reasons: faster load times, getting pages to display the way they were intended to, and even added security are among the most obvious.
“If Internet users do not update their browsers, they miss out on the great improvements that make their browsing experience smoother and safer,” says Auctiva developer Ervi Bongso. “Browser developers have been improving their products by taking in consumers’ suggestions and comments, through testing and focus groups, etc., so they can provide you with something better. Some people dislike changing because they have to learn something new, but sometimes, changes are good.”
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Search engines continue to be a top resource for online shoppers. In fact, a recent study by Compete Online Shopper, a Web analytics company, found that 61 percent of online buyers use search engines when shopping around for products. The second most popular tool cited among these shoppers was coupon sites, with 35 percent of buyers saying they visit these. Retailer marketing e-mails came in third, with 29 percent of consumers reading them when deciding what to buy.
Buyer behavior does vary from niche to niche, but there’s no denying one thing: Search engines are very important to online shoppers.
This comes as no surprise to Auctiva Commerce Product Lead Chris Eckland.
“People utilize search engines, and Google Product Search in particular, to find the best deal on an item that they’re planning to buy,” he says. ”Often, this activity may be just to confirm a deal that’s available locally is in line with other offers, but in many cases a quick online search can reveal online stores with better deals or specials not available elsewhere.”
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We have just uploaded more than 30 new templates for your listings that are different from the templates we’ve created in the past. Until now, most of our templates had distinct themes; some are seasonal, others tie in with a category such as books, Cameras & Photos, children, and so forth. All graphical elements, fonts and colors work to achieve their seasonal or category “look.”